


Numbers

by GabGab



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: AU Sent to Cochlea, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Based on a Dream, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kaneki is Stuck in Cochlea, Manga Spoilers, Non-Chronological, Post Kanou's Lab Raid, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-24 14:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6157291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabGab/pseuds/GabGab
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Raid of Kanou's Lab may have first thought to be fruitless. Until First Class Amon Koutarou and Rank 2 Juuzou Suzuya successfully captured SS rated ghoul, Centipede.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Adamant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Raid of Kanou's Lab may have first thought to be fruitless. Until First Class Amon Koutarou and Rank 2 Juuzou Suzuya successfully captured SS rated ghoul, Centipede.

Cochlea, a ghoul detention center located in the 23rd Ward, a place where captured ghouls are detained inside. The third floor holds a valuable piece of information, known as SS rated ghoul, Centipede. Centipede is a incomplete kakuja, as well as an one-eyed ghoul. His identity is of a missing college student, Kaneki Ken.

CCG is withholding any information regarding Kaneki Ken, from the press and from any CCG investigator. If any investigator were to leak information concerning this matter, CCG have a serious problem on their hands.

Shinme Haiseki, the prison director, lead Amon Koutarou and Akira Mado through Cochlea. As the walked unease settled at the pit of Amon’s stomach, as he thought back to the raid. 

-

“I...I.. don’t….don’t want to eat anymore….”

The words that came out of Eyepatch sounded pained and strained. His kangue was retracking, almost as if he was surrendering to Amon. It seemed as if he wanted to be killed. From where Amon stood he could see the unhealed, gaping wounds left from Juuzou. The wounds were visibly still bleeding and were trying to clot. He could see the dried blood on the ghoul’s face and the speckles in his messy bleached hair.

His hands were tightly clutched around his face, while the other groped at his hair. The nails stood out the most, they seemed to clash with the chalky white hair. Were the ghoul’s nails black during their first meeting? No, Amon was sure they weren’t. Could it be fashion statement, could they be painted?

Amon took a slight step forward to inspect the ghoul closer, while holding onto his quinque tightly. Now looking closer, the nails seemed to be a deep dark red, like the color of dried blood. What could have happened to make them that horrid shade?

Amon felt himself shiver, then he turned towards the walls and ceilings. The walls were covered with crimson blood, along with having deep jagged cuts into the walls and flooring.  
Amon closed his eyes. He felt pity for the ghoul, and its weak display to be spared. Amon raised to quinque ready to strike, but he hesitated. The ghoul looked physically and mentally broken, the one-eyed ghoul looked to be clinging to his identity as a human. Amon could see silent tears leaking out of both eyes. 

Is Eyepatch just a ghoul?

“Yeah,” Amon wasn’t talking to anyone but himself, trying to answer his own question. 

He tried to rid his mind of all thoughts and continue with his job. His job was to exterminate all confirmed ghouls. But as he tried to empty his mind, questions and thoughts swarmed him. Amon knew that any his questions would never be answered just by killing. Could Amon decide either to receive the answers he (wanted) needed, or to let them vanish into the darkness.

“Why are all you bums, just standing around? Amon-sa~n! You need to move or else!” But before Amon could react, three scorpion bikaku quinque knives soared past Amon and struck Eyepatch. The knives had been thrown by Juuzou, who was smiling cruelly. 

One of the knives had lodged itself into the half-ghoul’s torso and the other two were adhered to the ghoul’s arm. Crimson blood leaked out of each wound. After losing so much blood, the kakuja mask was starting to flake off like dead skin cells. You could see the horrified expression of betrayal and distrust on the eyepatch ghoul’s face. You could see his eyes were no longer rolled back into his head, but staring dead onto the floor.

“I wonder…… do you think your regeneration is faster? I might just have to time you! Should I rip out a few guts……… OR better yet, chop a few limbs off! You won’t miss them will you, Centipede~?” Juuzou’s smile widened. 

Eyepatch quickly covered his ears, trying to block out any noise, any sound. His body started to tremble, and his face paled.

“Oh, scared? Don’t worry it will be over soon~! Just try to hold on until I chop all your limbs off! 

Then came a scream, not just a normal scream, but one that would make Amon lie awake at night hearing the scream loop in his head over and over again. 

(The scream of someone in pure agony.)

The scream was of a wounded animal stuck in a bear trap, knowing it could not escape. It wasn’t just that, that haunted Amon, it was his body posture. 

The way he sat hunched over kneeling, with his ears covered and his eyes wide. The way his clear grey eyes focused solely onto the bloody flooring. 

Then the ghoul released one single scrawny, red kagune to block more incoming knives thrown by Juuzou.

His face was of pure horror, and deception.

Then came another scream. 

-

By the time Amon snapped out of his flashback, Shinme Haiseki had finished leading Akira and Amon to the interrogation room.

“Please take care and use the utmost caution. Alert me if anything goes wrong. At Cochlea we need to punish ‘problematic’ ghouls.” Shinme then left the two by the interrogation room.

“Akira, what information do we have considering Ey-Centipede?” That was the ghoul’s new alias, given to him by Juuzou. 

“Just your reports filed on the ghoul. They are either not interested in this ghoul, or they are withholding any information.” Amon’s response was a lifeless grunt. Its not like he needed it anyways; he already knew everything regarding the investigation. 

“I still don’t understand why you would spare this ghoul instead of killing it. What use could it be to us. You should have taken care of it, it seemed to be in a great deal of pain.” 

Akira never wanted to keep the ghoul around from the beginning. It took part in her father’s murder, killing the thing would be vengeance. Yet Amon pleaded against what she said, even though her father was Amon’s partner. 

Even the CCG doubted Amon’s decision to keep the ghoul alive, until interrogating Centipede, then their mindset changed completely. The doubts from Itsuki Marude suddenly stopped, and new information was suddenly kept hidden.

-

Inside the interrogation room only sat two fold-out chairs, while directly across them sat SS rated ghoul, Centipede. The ghoul sat upright, with his hands in his lap. He looked uncomfortable, and the dark rings and heavy bags under his eyes showed he hadn’t slept.  
Amon sat down quickly in one fluid motion, Akira, who had refused to sit, remained standing. 

“Hello Eyepatch, I would like to ask you some questions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for looking at words that I typed. This took a LONG time to type and think of, so just clicking on this makes me feel appreciated. You can write suggestion in the comments. The next chapter will be the interrogation. Then CCG. Then more flashback possibly. Then Anteiku. Then Hide. Im still working out the kinks.


	2. Reconvene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tears filled Kaneki’s eyes. Nothing seemed to make sense at the moment, but nothing ever seemed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~This chapter and others that will follow, will take place after Chapter 1.~
> 
>  
> 
> Edit: 6/6/16
> 
> I only added the 2 months earlier thing. It makes it easier for everyone to know that this chapter (and others that follow) take place BEFORE chapter 1.

 

 **~** **Two  Months Earlier ~**

 

Kaneki never had a break in his life. It was always one tragedy after another.

Hide always knew about Kaneki’s family situations, no matter how hard Kaneki tried to lie and keep it from Hide. First Kaneki’s father passes, and leaves his mother heartbroken and stricken with grief. His mom shoulders all the responsibilities her husband had, and works twice as hard to support her family. But everything isn’t as wonderful as they make it sound, with all the stress and grief it makes her unstable and she takes out her grief and stress on her only son. Whenever Kaneki is acting disrespectfully or selfishly, she feels she must teach him a lesson.

She would always mumble to herself, _‘It has to be done,’_ before teaching her son a lesson. But of course she was a great mother, she would show him the meanings of difficult kanji and would take him to the playground whenever she could. These things made her feel justified for acting the way she did and conditioned Kaneki to think it was normal. She constantly told Kaneki never to speak about her lessons, to anyone, and to always respect her decisions and actions.

Hide was always good at reading people, but you didn’t have to be a genius to tell those bruises weren’t from ‘wild dogs’ or from ‘falling off the slide’. But when confronted about these things, Kaneki never showed any signs of lying. Hide never persisted any further than that.

When Kaneki’s mother died, Hide felt slightly relieved. Hide knew it was selfish to feel this way, but maybe those bruises and cuts will finally never show up again. Kaneki was moving in with his aunt’s family, maybe it might finally get better for him.

It had been weeks since Kaneki’s mother’s death, and he acted more distant and silent. Hide just thought it had to be grief. But, the day Kaneki walked into school with a large black eye circled around his left eye, Hide knew it wouldn’t ever get better for him. After asking Kaneki about his black eye, he started crying and spilled everything about his current family situation; he told him everything about his aunt, his uncle, and his cousin.

Kaneki spoke about his aunt comparing him to his mother, and getting irritated at Kaneki’s constant good grades. Then he told Hide about his uncle, who would stand and watch what would happen. He then would mumble something along the lines of, _‘You tell him sweetie,’_ between chugging down sodas and gobbling down rice crackers.

Hide should have known about this, he was supposed to be there for Kaneki, not just nod and listen. Hide always regretted not taking more action against Kaneki’s aunt and uncle to this day. The fact is Hide isn’t some mastermind, or some secret spy, but just a kid who got caught up in a ghoul’s world.

But, Hide was capable of anything. Hide was a badass fighter; he had worked on that six-pack for months! He was notable for his intuitiveness and great work on the field. The fact that he knew four different languages was very helpful. He even had a couple secrets, some that Kaneki isn’t even aware of.

Even after everything they had both went through, they were still best friends, and every part of Hide wished it could have worked out, that nothing had changed. It sounded stupid but they need each other. They need each other’s company, even now.

__

According to Special Class Arima Kishou, Kaneki, or as he was known by the CCG, “Centipede” wouldn’t speak a complete sentence, to anyone. Arima put him through the ringer and still nothing. The ghoul would only say bits and pieces of different things. No of the words seemed to connect to anything that was asked. Kaneki’s mental state was questionable, too. If it stayed this way, they must discard the ghoul.

Now, came to the part Hide came into all of this. It started when Hide was called into Marude’s office.

Hide had plastered an innocent smile onto his face and marched into the office. The office was tidy, and had several shelves of books along the wall. Marude’s desk was facing away from an enormous window that made up the entire wall. Marude gestured to a swivel chair directly across his desk. As Hide sat down into the chair it made an awful creaking noise.

“Hideyoshi, you once stated you knew the missing kid, Kaneki Ken, right?”

“Yes, sir. He is my best friend to be precise.”

Marude leaned in closer to Hide, and lowered his voice.

“I want to share you some classified information with you. You’re a smart kid, so I trust you to not to breathe a word I tell you. You got that kid?” Hide quickly nodded.

Marude continued to state information all about “Centipede” and the speculation of the ghoul being the missing student Kaneki Ken. He told Hide how Kaneki Ken could be twins with the ghoul, well if it weren’t for the hair coloring.

“Hideyoshi, I want you to go into the ghoul’s cell, and speak with it. And if this ghoul, really is the missing student, maybe he will cooperate with you.”

“I will do it sir, I don’t know if it will actually work. Hopefully I won’t be eaten, have a good day sir! Oh, and it’s Hide, not Hideyoshi. ”

Hide bolted out of the office before Marude could say anything else. Hide had already known about what had happened to Kaneki, a sick doctor operated on Kaneki and forced him to turn into ghoul. Hide always had bad feelings about Rize; the way she stared at Kaneki was like a predator ready to strike their prey. She had planned their meeting, their date, she was cunning but not enough. A certain clown dropped construction beams onto her, leaving her to be squashed, like the bug she it.

__

As Hide stood before a door labeled #240, he felt like he was going to throw up all of his intestines. This was one thing he never thought he was ever going to do. Sure he had been to Cochlea once or twice but not to see his best friend locked in a cell.

Hide knew Kaneki had his fair share of secrets, and so did himself, but confronting his friend about them. Hide was always known to be a renowned liar, but only Kaneki could ever tell when he was lying. And Hide could tell when Kaneki was lying.

Thoughts swirled around his head, almost like a carousel. The thoughts in his head go round and round then they’re replaced with new thoughts. How would he ever tell Touka, and Nishiki-senpai, and everyone else at Anteiku? Hide had known about everyone there being ghouls long before Kaneki’s encounter with Rize. Of course he wouldn’t tell anyone at the CCG.

__

Marude had bargained with the prison director, and eventually forced a pair of guards to stand outside the door, just in case something **happens**.

Hide could look into the cell through a small window, he had never gotten to see the inside of any of the cells, and he was only permitted to go into the interrogation room.

Inside the cell was grey walls and grey flooring, not much variety. There was only one piece of furniture inside the bland room and it was a bed. Well the bed was more of a mat on stilts. He could see how anyone could go insane in a room like that, hell even he would.

Kaneki was sitting next to the bed on the floor. He had his legs close to his chest, while both of his arms was hugging his legs. He was staring deeply into the wall.

Hide took a deep breath and gave a thumbs up sign to one of the guards. They didn’t seem amused. He slowly walked into the room, and the door slammed behind him causing Kaneki to wince.

“Hey buddy! It’s been a long time, since we have seen each other. Wow, this room is bland, you should spice it up with a kitten poster!”

“H-Hide, why are you…. this doesn’t make sense. T-This is another hallucination.”

Kaneki’s vision blurred, and his head was pounding. Why was Hide here? Is he even here? Kaneki started massaging his temples to soothe the pain. Nothing made any sense to him.

Kaneki started getting gapes in his memory, at random times of the day he will forget a part of his life. Once it was his date with Rize, another time it the ghoul restaurant, and once he forgot his mother. At times when he is under serious stress, he will not be able to speak. He could only spit out a quarter of the words that he wanted to say. It had first happened when Arima Kishou came into to speak with Kaneki.

Kaneki’s arms started to fall limp, pins and needles were piercing his legs. The cell kept getting darker, and darker…maybe this is it.

“Hey, Hey Kaneki. I am here for you. Please try to not blank out on me. I am here to help. I always knew Kaneki; I should have convinced you to not go on that date. It's not your fault for anything that happened.”

There was the voice again. Could it really be Hide? It sounded too real, so clear. It wasn’t the first time he had heard voices. It had happened for days after his mother died, he never told anyone that. During dreams he can still hear his mom, scolding him, showing him kanji, or her breathing. Though he would never see her, it would only be pitch black.

“No, stop. You aren’t really here. It’s just me, it’s just me… just me… all alone.”

He started to feel the drugs they had shot through his veins earlier. To keep him from being “hostile” according to one of the doctors.

“Hey, Hey! You are never alone. Don’t you have people that care and depend on you? I know you have one, just try to guess who it is.”

Silence. This was getting depressing; he heard Kaneki had it bad, but this. It was worse than anything he previously thought.

“Well, its me. I need you Kaneki. Fuck, everyone seems to depend on you, everyone at Anteiku, your little ghoul gang, and the Gourmet. Even the CCG needs you Kaneki. What about Amon, the investigator who fought you? Fuck, Kaneki you need to focus on what I’m saying...”

The words were turning to mush. They had injected too many Rc suppressants into the bloodstream; the hybrid’s consciousness wouldn’t be back for hours.

Kaneki’s eyes were darting all over the grey walls; his eyes were aching with sharp pains. There are a lot of _different_ ways to inject the suppressants; the doctor’s in Cochlea like to stab in your eye. Sometimes they “miss”, and then they have to inflict more pain onto you.

“Hide, if… if you really _a-_ are there… they injected me with suppressants. I… I am sorry… sorry that you have to be here… sorry that you have to see me like this. I couldn’t ever finish college with you… sorry.”

Tears filled Kaneki’s eyes. Nothing seemed to make sense at the moment, but nothing ever seemed to.

Hide stood up and sat on the makeshift bed. A throbbing migraine was falling upon Hide, just one of many. Hide seemed to get a migraine once or twice a week; they usually where from stress, the weather, or something he ate. He had medication, and went to a neurologist, but nothing would work. It seemed natural to him, after having them for so long.

“Well, I need to be here for a while longer buddy. Why don’t I tell you about a few things? I know you won’t be able to hear this, but it might help me”

Hide continued to stay with Kaneki for another hour and a half, just talking to brick wall mostly. He talked about the CCG and why we got involved, and about Anteiku. Hide would sometimes pop inside to check on Touka. At some points Kaneki would try to respond, but only fragments would come out.

Kaneki was trying his hardest to focus, but thoughts kept swirling through his mind. Horrific thoughts were going through the ghoul’s head as Hide talked about Touka. How are Banjou, Hinami, Tsukiyama, and Touka? Are they doing well without him? If the CCG were to find out Kaneki’s relationship with Anteiku, they would all be toast.


	3. Zemblanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The throbbing headache seemed to follow Hide; it just wouldn’t let him go. It followed him around the CCG offices, and to his house. The stress and worry Hide carried is getting to him. There were too many choices, many of them bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~This chapter and others that will follow, will take place after Chapter 1.~

Hide hovered over Kaneki for what felt like eternity, until Kaneki reverted back to his normal self. Hide’s mouth was dry from spouting weird occurrences he had while working for the CCG. He told the story of how he discovered the hideout of Aogiri Tree, his first encounter with Juuzou, and how he met Amon and Akira. Hide felt that by just talking to Kaneki, it might soothe him and calm him down. Ever since he mentioned Touka and Anteiku, Kaneki’s kakugan manifested in his left eye. The hybrid also started to yank on his bleached, white hair. 

If Hide was any other CCG investigator, they might have called a guard, but this was Hide. To Hide, this was the highlight of his week to see Kaneki’s kakugan. Hide had always been a low-key ghoul fanatic, he had always been envious that ghoul’s had a kangune and better fighting abilities. Besides all that, it was a good sign. It meant Kaneki was slowly returning to his normal self. 

“Yo, Kaneki. Did you know they have ideas of who you are? Your pretty popular around the office,” Hide sighed. He was getting nowhere, and Kaneki wasn’t responding to anything he had said. The kakugan was a good start, but he had to say something, drastic. 

“Hey buddy, I actually I joined the CCG to keep tabs on you and keep you safe. Well, I’m pretty glad I did that now. At first I was just a mail boy but now I’m a Rank 3 investigator. I bet my parents would be proud, considering they were ghoul investigators.” 

Kaneki had turned and faced Hide, with a look of small shock. His kakugan was slowly disappearing into a normal grey eye. 

“Why? Why risk your safety for me? I… I am not someone important.” 

“Kaneki, you need to stop thinking like that. A lot of people care a whole ton about you, even some people you don’t think do. Amon likes to pester me about you, ever since I said I am your best friend. I feel like Arima is pretty impressed at you kangune. I bet every single person at Anteiku is aware of your situation and is worrying like crazy.”

“Can… can you tell them that I... I am sorry, and not to… worry. I don’t want them to worry about me anymore. Hide… make sure Amon can meet up with me. We need… to discuss some things; I told him we would one day. And Hide,” Kaneki took a deep breath then continued, “thank you for staying with me. I… I really appreciate it.”

“It's no problem buddy! It’s time for me to take my leave, but I will come back as soon as I can. I will make sure to talk to Touka and Nishiki-sempai. Please get some sleep, and don’t worry over anything, I got it.”

__

Hide was sent to Marude’s office straight away after speaking to Kaneki. It was late into the night, almost one in the morning, and the CCG office had barely anyone inside. It seemed like a place was haunted. You would think that the CCG investigators would work later since they despise ghouls so much. 

When Hide entered Marude’s office, it seemed messier than it did before. Papers were cast everywhere and his locked cabinets were all pulled out. Layer after layer of files were on Marude’s desk. Marude himself wasn’t looking too hot either, his hair was sticking up in different places and his eyes had deep dark rings surrounding them. It looked like he had been sucker punched in the face, twice. 

“Hideyoshi, where have you been? I have been on a wild goose chase for you! Well at least you came back in one piece. I dove deep into the Kaneki Ken files and number 240’s files, and I discover something SHOCKING!”

“What is it sir?” Hide was nervous, he hadn’t even been in his office for ten minutes and he was just about to be discovered. ‘Just act cool and collective Hide, he might not know yet,’ Hide told himself. It seemed hopeless at this point but Marude was always a slight pushover. He could fake his way out again. 

“It seems that my hunch about Kanou and Kaneki Ken is correct. I put a body camera on Shinohara before the raid to keep an eye out for any malfunctions with Arata, his koukaku, but discovered something else. Here look at these pictures.”

Marude continued to show Hide the first picture of Kaneki that was placed on Kaneki’s missing posters. In the second image, you can see half of Kaneki’s kakuja mask; it only covered the left side of his face and showing his kakugan. On the hybrid’s right side, it looked more human; you could see his clear grey eye, and his mouth was turned into a frown.

“You can’t say that this isn’t the same person! These pictures prove that Kanou is making ghouls, and look! He is a one-eyed ghoul! Kanou is an extremely dangerous enemy to the CCG. I have already called an emergency meeting with some of the best investigators. The meeting is tomorrow. I also want you to share what went on with your meeting with the ghoul.”

Hide sighed, he can’t back out of this, “Yes, Kaneki Ken is, technically, Centipede. I will share all of my information tomorrow, at the emergency meeting.”

That didn’t go quite as planned. 

__

The throbbing headache seemed to follow Hide; it just wouldn’t let him go. It followed him around the CCG office, and to his apartment. The stress Hide carried is getting to him. There were too many choices, many of them bad. 

He could share everything about Kaneki and risk all of the Anteiku members getting caught and killed. Hide could lie and say Marude dreamed Hide talking to him; no Marude is too smart for that. 

“ARGH!” Hide screamed and punched the wall leaving a small dent. Hopefully he didn’t wake up his neighbors. 

Hide needed to talk this out, but with whom? He can’t speak about this with anyone at the CCG and he didn’t have any real friends but Kaneki. It’s too late to talk to anyone at Anteiku, since they close at ten o’clock. It's not like he has their phone numbers or house numbers. He also had to deliver Kaneki’s message to them, too. He did have a certain someone’s phone number. Hopefully they won’t be having sex to ignore his message.

__

Touka wasn’t prepared to expect anything different from the usual while working. Especially to see Anteiku closed, she was sure that it was her turn to take the morning shift with Roma. Did that idiot Kaneki finally return? Touka was sure she would have heard a rumor from Roma, for sure. Roma was very well known for withholding information. 

Touka could hear faint talking coming from the cafe. It sounded like Nishiki and someone else. Touka had no clue to what might be going on. She first thought Roma just forgot to flip the sign, but when she turned the knob, she heard the two fall silent; this is just like the time with…

Oh God, did someone of them get grabbed by the Dove’s to be a quinque?

She made a beeline to the back room, to find two people sitting on the couches drinking coffee. It was that shitty Nishiki, but Roma wasn’t there. There was someone taking her spot though, Touka knew she had seen them before, I mean their spiky, dyed yellow hair was easy to spot from a yard away. Who were they again? 

Wait, it was Kaneki’s friend. His name was Hide, right?

“Hide! Wait, what is going on…” The both turned towards her when she spoke, Hide who was smiling suddenly frowned. ‘Someone died didn’t they, was it someone close to Kaneki? Was it that doctor that turned Kaneki into a ghoul? Was Hide turned into a ghoul?’ The female ghoul’s mind raced, what in the hell is going on?

“Hey Touka, I didn’t expect you to be here too,” Hide said slightly nervous. He seemed to be almost scared; this was a first. Touka had never seen Hide nervous or even remotely worried, she only saw him cheerful and annoying. 

“I suppose I should tell both of you since you are here, I have been working with the CCG recently and I -” Hide couldn’t even finish his sentence. Touka was beyond furious, she knew that all Hide had to do was radio into those little creeps and it’s over. 

The female ghoul’s anger could not be contained and Touka began to yell, “Why are you really here Hideyoshi? To HAUL us away and force us into cramped briefcases!”

“Touka, you need to fucking control yourself. Hide wouldn’t have just woken me at two in the morning to get us caught. Hide is pretty fucking smart if you didn’t know that,” Nishiki said with bitterness. 

Touka snorted, Hideyoshi was smart all right. Hideyoshi had lured both of them into a trap to be skinned alive, or something along the lines of that.

Hide continued, “Touka, I swear I’m not gonna kill you, I just have some very urgent news. As I said before, I work for the CCG as a part-time assistant. First I just joined as a mailman, but I was bumped up to the 20th ward. I am working on your case Touka, the Rabbit case, and the Gourmet’s case.”

“SEE! He is going to bust us!” Touka has about to kill Hideyoshi right here, right now.

“Touka, I haven’t said anything. I wouldn’t do that to any of you. I couldn’t tell you before,” Hide confessed sheepishly, “but I want to thank you guys I know you both helped Kaneki a lot and I know I would not have been able to. Hell, I barely kept him alive when we were younger. I joined the CCG to make sure they didn’t find anything about Anteiku or Kaneki. But, something recently happened and Anteiku, and everyone working here, could die because of it.”

Nishiki nearly choked on his coffee. “What do you mean by THAT? Did you make some shitty mistake and tell everyone you know where S rated ghouls work?”

“NO,” Hide shouted, and then continued to calm down, “it is nothing like that. Recently there was a raid on one of Kanou’s labs. They were trying to capture Kanou, but, um, they ended up getting Kaneki instead…” Hide continued by letting out a dry chuckle.

The two ghouls were deathly silent; Nishiki almost dropped his cup of coffee onto the floor. 

“Heh, I am guessing Kaneki’s little group doesn’t know either…”

“What does this mean for us? What even happened!” Touka was consumed with mixed emotions. Thankfully at least no one died.

“You mean that shitty brat got CAUGHT!” Nishiki was just about screaming.

“Well, Kaneki wasn’t in the best state of mind and I not sure if you are aware of this, but he has been cannibalizing… He is a half kakuja.”

“WHAT!” Both Nishiki and Touka shouted it at once. It must seem like a madhouse in here from the outside. 

“I saw him yesterday; he has calmed down but he wasn’t all there if you know what I mean. I know he wasn’t quite sane but I have seen him worse.”

Touka was somewhat startled by that, what did Hide mean by he has seen him worse? “What do you mean by that?”

Hide hesitated before speaking, “I don’t really think I should tell you all the details, but it was when me and Kaneki were still in high school. It wasn’t pretty, but I talked him out of it.” Hide didn’t want to dwell on that topic and quickly said, “ Anyways, a CCG investigator I work for let me have clearance and Kaneki said not to worry about him. I can keep you updated, and I will try to speak with Kaneki next week. The only thing you need to worry about is yourselves. They know Kaneki worked at Anteiku, I did hack in and delete that part of the file. Some of them might still remember.”

“Hide, thanks for telling us. I will try to contact Kaneki’s group. They probably have no clue to where he went,” Touka said. 

Hide left shortly after that, Touka still had plenty of questions for him. She was mostly confused about what Hide had said about Kaneki’s mental state. What had happened in high school? Touka was sure it wasn’t anything that bothered her.


	4. Palpitate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you smell that mouthwatering and ambrosial meat? Flesh, thigh, intestines; all drowning in a crimson pool of blood. Mmm~! Doesn’t that sound astounding, Ken?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~This takes place before chapter 1~
> 
> Thank you all for 1900 views! I am so glad people are enjoying this series! I am so sorry it took forever to write and upload this chapter; I still go to school. Sorry it is shorter, I just wanted to give you something interesting and not something shitty. Have a wonderful day!

Sound bounced freely around the cell. Echoing any noise. Kaneki Ken sat there on the floor of his cell, ignoring the voices. Maybe if he did not react to one word being said, it would vanish.

 _“Kan-eki-kun~!”_  Rize purred into Kaneki’s right ear. “I’m _so_ hungry!” The female ghoul pouted, rubbing her stomach in a clockwise motion.

With no reaction from Kaneki, Rize collapsed onto the floor dramatically. Her purple hair smacked up against the side of his face. “You know you’re no fun anymore, _right?_ Why won’t you say something!” Suddenly her face lit up into a bright, sunny smile.

“Do you smell that mouthwatering and ambrosial meat? Flesh, thigh, intestines; all drowning in a crimson pool of blood. Mmm~! Doesn’t that sound astounding, Ken?” Just as the illusion finished her sentence, the hybrid's stomach growled.

“It seems I finally got a reaction out of you! _Wonderful._ ” Rize’s fingers tiptoed up along the male’s arm. “Why are you refusing to eat the _generous_ servings their feeding you? You’ll die you know. Just like how you killed everyone around you: myself, Ryoko, Yamori, all off those Restaurant ghouls, the CCG officer you ate, and your **mother** -” She gasped, and let out a cheery chuckle.

Kaneki told himself to ignore it. He just wanted it to stop. The hybrid tried to focus on something else, like his hands. Where his fingernails always his dark red color? It wasn’t a black; it looked like scabs had formed underneath each nail. Just as the male ghoul’s thoughts began to wander to **that** room, it spoke again.

“Wait, do you even remember the taste of **own mother’s** food? What about the taste of her steak burgers she made for you?” The female ghoul leaned in closer, her voice sounded deadly almost like poison. “I told you before with Yamori, she wasn’t the nice, _wonderful_ person you remember her as. Do you remember the reason she cooked the burgers for you? It was to keep you from leaving her; she was _so_ alone. She lost everyone, and she wanted _someone_ to cling onto. So to stop someone from taking you from you telling to anyone about what she was doing, she _bribed_ you! Do you remember when she-”

The voice couldn’t finish her sentence; it was cut of by a scream. More specifically, it was his own scream.

“LEAVE ME ALONE! GET OUT! GET OUT! THIS IS MY BODY, MY SOUL, AND MY THOUGHTS! GET OUT!” Kaneki leaned forward and put his head on the wall, and continued to bang his head against it. His kakugan manifested in his left eye. His fingernails dug down into his eyes, blood trickled down the sides of the hybrid’s face, mixing with tears.

The cries echoed throughout Cochlea, causing anyone to immediately pity the poor creature. It had also alerted the guards patrolling throughout the prison. The door slammed open as three men burst inside the cage. Two of the three men were wearing all black, and the other was dressed in baby blue scrubs with a white lab coat on top. The ones wearing all black pinned Kaneki in place on the floor.

The one wearing the pristine lab coat sighed and crouched down near the floor. “This is the fifth time number 240. Your body is growing a stronger immunity to the RC suppressants, this means we have to inject it through the tear duct again.” He took out a sharp need from the inside pocket of the lab coat and forcefully stabbed it into Kaneki’s eye.

__

The anticipation and anxiety twisted Hide’s stomach into knots; even though all he had to do was state information. Scared didn’t even begin to cover what he felt. Hide had to stand in front of numerous Associate Special Class and Special Class investigators. Including Division II leader Matsuri Washuu and the ghoul slayer Arima. Rumor has it, that Arima once eliminated three ghouls all at once with an umbrella, while **reading**.

Now, little old Hide, had to present some _magical_ case about Kaneki Ken, to prove his friend’s use. His best friend’s life was resting on Hide’s shoulders. As he stood before a pair of doors leading into the conference room. This seemed like a situation straight out a movie screen: the best friend having to fight for their friend’s life. It always ends in some sort of a happy ending with a joyful resolution. Too bad this wasn’t a movie.

Hide entered the conference room; inside the room sat; Matsuri, who had a disgusted look plastered onto his face, Shirohana, someone Kaneki injured in his kakuja state, Special Class Arima, and Marude. There were four other people whom Hide did not recognize. It was a shame that Amon couldn’t get special access to attend this meeting; he would have stood up for Kaneki.

“Hello, thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting. I filled you all in about Kanou, the old CCG professor, and his recent _hobbies._ This is Hideyoshi Nagachika, who will be updating you all on the condition of Kaneki Ken.” Said Marude.

As Hide spoke, it became less of a report and slowly became an argument.

“I am aware everyone here all feels _pity_ towards the ghoul.” Matsuri hesitated slightly before continuing, “Kanou forced him to become a monster against his own will. But, what can the CCG do? What’s done is done, we can’t change the past Hideyoshi.”

“I know this may go against the CCG’s morals, but I think he has an incredible amount of potential. It would be a waste to just throw away someone who can fight, has an education, and a kagune.”

Before Hide could speak his next sentence the all-powerful Arima spoke. “I think what Hideyoshi is referring to is that you mold Kaneki Ken into a powerful investigator. Someone who can surpass all others.”

“Hideyoshi, you do realize this is absolutely absurd. There is no guarantee this **ghoul** is mentally stable. I don’t think any sane investigator would like to spend hours with something just to throw it away.”

“Mr. Washuu, I don’t think you are looking at this as a whole. The ghoul is powerful and I suffered serious damage just from his ordinary kagune.” Shirohana stated.

“Sir, I think you should consider Hideyoshi’s statement. I would gladly train this ghoul if he is as strong as Shirohana said. It does not seem impossible.” Arima concluded with an unreadable facial expression.

Marude also spoke up saying, “We will have to do less paperwork since there is no known family currently alive. Hideyoshi can help assist in this operation, also.”

Matsuri sneered. For once he wasn’t getting his way, mostly due to the fact he didn’t have his _clique_ with him. Matsuri always had three or four people following him and agreeing with whatever he did. They were real ass-kissers. At least they didn’t get clearance to take part in the meeting.

“I think this has gone on long enough, I am concluding this conference. Arima I need to speak with you afterward.” Marude’s final words sounded promising to Hide; there was hope.

__

Hide stepped out of his cubicle, his shift ended at eight thirty. Hide looked at the clock, it was only ten to nine. Just barely enough time to stop by that bookstore before it closed and-

His thoughts were interrupted, when he bumped into a tall, beefy man. The papers Hide was carrying scattered along the floor. “Hey, man sorry. You shouldn’t stand right there-“ It was Amon. Shit. Just the person he didn’t want to see.

For the past week Amon had been pestering Hide about the Eyepatch ghoul. Usually Hide doesn’t mind talking to the man, but now it was annoying. It seemed like almost everyday, the man would ask Hide about his day, which was fine, but whenever he said anything regarding Eyepatch there were questions. Too many questions. It wasn’t like Hide wanted to hog Kaneki all for himself, but it was more along the lines of ‘If I tell you, I may be killed.’

And everyday Amon would ask different, unpredictable questions too. Questions that would reveal bits and pieces of the investigation, making it easy for Amon to connect it all together. Again it wasn’t as if Amon was some yandere, asking questions about his dearest senpai. The questions could be easily answered by yes and no. Making it hard to not give a direct answer.

“Hello Hideyoshi, sorry about that.” Said Amon while he helped pick up papers.

“It's alight Amon, and I told you to call me Hide. Hideyoshi is such a mouthful. So how is your day been going?” Hide flashed a sunny smile.

“Busy, like usual. How is the investigation going _Hideyoshi_ \- Hide?” Amon didn’t look up from the ground; he was too focused picking up the papers.

“It going **well** _._ Sorry, they didn’t give you special clearance. I gotta go Amon-san, sorry.” Hide picked up the last paper, gathered it all together, put it in the file cabinet and left quickly.  He didn’t bother locking the cabinet; who would even bother to look in some rank two investigator’s cabinet. Hide didn't want to play a game of twenty questions and left without speaking again to Amon.

When Hide reached the bookstore it was 9:07 pm, the store closed at nine. ‘So close!’ Thought Hide. He would have to try again tomorrow. 

__

Kaneki sat in the cell alone. Alone with his thoughts. At the moment he was determined to recall the events that took place at Kanou’s lab. Kaneki couldn’t remember copious amounts of time, after he had fought off Kanou’s test dummies.

He wanted to know where and when he fucked up, so he could be stronger. To be stronger and protect everyone. To be stronger and save everyone. To be stronger and destroy everything. He just needed to be stronger, more powerful.

Thinking back to the lab, the hybrid remembered the taste of blood filling his mouth during the fight, and if what Rize said was right then-

He had killed and eaten someone. He was a murder. After everything he did to be powerful, it corrupted him. All the time plucking the bad coffee beans and feasting upon them. All that time pushing himself to be stronger. All the time wasted due to Kaneki wanting it to be his way.

Then he remembered what his mother said to him once, “Not everything can be centered around you selfish little boy. You can’t have everything you want. Nothing can be your way. Remember what I always tell you.”

He was being selfish. It was stupid to think he could change anything. Now he put his friends in danger.

__

Amon felt guilty but he had to get answers. He had already pleaded with Marude to get access but had been rejected. Hideyoshi must keep those files around in his file cabinet, and it was the boy’s own fault for not locking it.

He was the one to capture the ghoul. He should have gotten ownership rights to the ghoul.

Amon flipped through each file with names of cases he had never even heard of. Finally he saw something. It was labeled with a named Amon had heard before. Without thinking he grabbed the file. When he turned around, a picture on Hideyoshi’s desk got knocked over onto the ground. It was of two kids; one with longer, golden blonde hair and another with black, short hair. Amon quickly placed it back onto the desk without glancing at it a second time.

Amon raced out of the CCG office building. He just had to get answers; it’s no fun being left in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you guys have been enjoying this story! I’m sorry I can’t keep updating every week. Also I hope to get to the more exciting parts of the fic soon.


	5. Crestfallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ah, yes Arima. I have already arranged all the paperwork for your ownership rights for Centipede. I just need to alert you of something special taking place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD! Thank you all so so so much for 2.6K views! I still cannot believe people really do like my fan fiction! I love every single person who has read this! I am sorry it takes me almost a month to write each chapter, but I have school. The spring season for sports ended recently so I should be pumping out chapters quicker. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ~Follows the events of Chapter 4~

Special Class Arima could notice small details about others and could read people with ease. Both came naturally to him. It was an easy task to figure out if someone was lying or telling the truth. As good of a skill as it is, Special Class could always tell how his co-workers really felt. How they pushed him away; how they despised him for following orders.

There was one thing Arima Kishou could never understand; it was emotions. Why did everyone envy his quinque, his skill, or his rank? Can’t they all see that once you become a high-ranking investigator, you cannot leave? They will not let you leave.

CCG’s reaper never got along with his co-workers that well, but nonetheless he did not join to make friends. It is a bit cliché, but Arima joined to exact vengeance. At first he was going to get revenge on ghouls. They have a truly pitiful existence, feasting on human flesh. But ghouls had taken away both of his parents lives, at a very young age. 

At the time, it seemed fitting to get revenge on something that ruined his chance for a childhood. 

Looking back, it was never about his parents. Special Class Arima was looking for an excuse to have a purpose job.

__

 

Special Class Arima entered Marude’s office. Arima found the man sitting in his chair focusing on a case file for an A-rated ghoul called Shikorae. It appeared to be assigned to Shiki Kijima. Marude had not noticed someone has entered the room.

Arima broke the silence and spoke, “I was called up, Marude.” 

“Ah, yes Arima. I have already arranged all the paperwork for your ownership rights for Centipede. I just need to alert you of something special taking place.” 

“What is that?” Arima was slightly intrigued. 

Marude continued, “Some of the doctors at Cochlea were informed of Kanou’s experiment and want to run tests on Centipede.” He paused and leaned closer, “They plan on creating something called Quinx. I heard some discussion on implanting a kakuhou into an investigator. Crazy, huh.” Marude let out a small chuckle. “They need you to see them in Cochlea to discuss details, what do you think?” 

“Let them know I will be at Cochlea at five o’clock.” 

__

 

Cochlea was not part of Special Class Arima’s daily routine. He had only been inside the building once, and that was approximately two years ago. The reaper had never once sent a ghoul to this place before, and he had never had ownership rights for a ghoul before, well until now. It was his job to exterminate them, and he did so. 

Now CCG’s reaper was following Shinme Haisaki, the Warden of Cochlea. The man was not the most visibly pleasing but was kind to Arima. Shinme stopped in front of door number 240. 

“Careful Special Class,” Shinme said quickly before leaving. 

Arima found the ghoul known as ‘Centipede’ sitting on the floor. The ghoul’s back rested against one of the legs of the bed placed along the right side of the wall. It was staring at the wall across it. Arima could only see the right side of the ghoul.

‘Centipede’ had white hair, like his own, and it had black fingernails. There must be a story behind that. The last thing Arima noticed was the hybrid’s eye; there seemed to be blood clots a lined at the bottom of its eyes. It must have been out of a line recently if it has not healed right away.

The Warden had informed Arima that the ghoul has random breakdowns and claws out its eyes. The ghoul usually repeats numbers down from one thousand, or sometimes on rare occasions the ghoul screeches about how it is eating his brain. The ghoul has had so many issues and stepped out of line so many times it is becoming immune to the suppressions. 

It was explained that injecting the RC Suppressions through the arm has less side of an effect. If used too frequently the ghoul could start adjusting to the effects. But by administering it through the tear duct can make it more harmful and stronger. Scientists will be trying to discover the reason for that shortly in the next year. 

Arima Kishou got impatient, he is a busy man and he had meeting to attend shortly. And here he was. Waiting. Waiting on a ghoul. This was not what Special Class had first thought it would be like. What did he even expect he would have to do anyways?

Arima Kishou took action. He grabbed a chunk of the male ghoul’s white hair and pulled his head upward. That would get his attention. 

The one-eyed ghoul remained silent. The kakugan had manifested in its left-eye. The blood clots had opened and small stream of blood came out of both eyes. The ghoul was not healing, even with suppressions it is very difficult to harm a ghoul enough for it to bleed. This could be a problem. 

__

 

Hide searched everywhere; he left no pencil unturned. But after what felt like hours of searching, Hide accepted his fate. He had lost a top-secret file with pages of information describing the tragedy that had befallen Kaneki Ken. 

Why did they even give him the file in paper form? Everyone in the whole world uses computers and cell phones for everything. And yet, they had to waste a poor tree. 

To any other investigator this would not be a problem. They would just log onto the CCG database and enter their password to see the file. But this is Hide, a low-ranking investigator without access to the ‘Centipede File’. 

Hide just could not accept the fact he goofed up that bad already! Someone could have taken it, someone jealous and envious! But that could be anyone working for CCG! Everyone always seemed so vengeful and filled with hatred. There was always the possibility he really did lose the file too. Hide was known for losing his homework, his phone, his wallet; the list could go on and on.

First he’s gotta retrace his steps. When was the last time he even saw the file? Several days must have passed since the last time he looked at it. Hide swore he placed it back inside his filing cabinet. Hide usually locks it every (other) day. 

Who even knew about the investigation? It has been under tight lock so that ordinary investigators weren’t aware of the existence of Kaneki Ken. 

But there are three investigators who do know about the investigation, who might want to know… 

__

 

“Hideyos-excuse me, Hide why are we here?” Asked Amon. “I have better things to do than sit around.” 

“I have called you all here for an important matter, something of mine is missing. I have narrowed my search down-“ Hide’s speech was interrupted by Akira Mado.

“Hide, why would any of us even take anything of yours? It doesn’t add up Hide.” Akira made a good point.

Hide had called Akira Mado, Amon Koutarou and Juuzou Suzuya for an interrogation, in the empty conference room. If only he could find a more menacing room, but this would have to do.

“We are all in the same squad, too.” Amon scoffed, he was in a sour mode, which was rare for someone like Amon. He suddenly became Hide’s top suspect. Why you might ask? Well all week Amon was acting weird and jumpy, like he was hiding something, something big… 

Before Hide could begin to think further about Amon’s actions, Juuzou spoke. “You know I wouldn’t bother to take something from you, Hide-chan. Why would I even care enough to do something like that?” Juuzou’s face lite up with a grin.

“Well I am not completely sure about that Juuzou, but you guys are the only ones who could have taken it.” Hide said firmly. These guys are the only ones that know about Kaneki Ken’s disappearance; expect all those other investigators working on the Kaneki Ken / Centipede file. 

“What are you missing Hide? If we could know then maybe we could try to help you find it.” Akira’s face was void of any emotion. She must not have had her morning latte yet.

Hide shook his head, “No, I cannot.” 

Akira’s mouth turned downwards into a frown, “Hide it is too early in the morning to be this stubborn.”

This was mission going nowhere. So far the main suspect was Amon, but he had little to go off of. It was hopeless to talk to them all at one time. But Hide had a plan, a way to get the root of the problem quickly. Maybe he should run the idea by someone else first, though.

__

 

Anteiku quickly became Hide’s favorite place to go. The blond had become friends with Touka soon after telling her and Nikiski-senpai about Kaneki. It was a bit hard to get her to trust him but it eventually worked itself out. (By worked itself out he meant pleading with her to trust him.)

They both found it surprisingly easy to talk to each other. Both of them liked to complain to each other about a multitude of things. But this time it was a bit more serious. 

Hide stepped through the door he could hear the little bell ring above him. But at the same time he could hear a bird squawking from the back. It was Friday night and almost closing, so Touka would be working the cafe by herself. Barely anyone actually wants coffee this late at night, which means the place, was always empty. 

“Hey Hide.” Touka angrily shouted from the back room. The female ghoul must be attempting to feed Loser. 

“Guess who has CCG gossip?” He paused, only to her Touka cursing at the bird. “It's me, Touka-chan.” As Hide headed towards the back, where the sound was coming from. He found the ghoul arguing with a cockatoo and throwing seed at the bird in the break room. Hide plopped down onto the leather couch.

“What did Loser do to you this time?” 

“That damn bird has a dirty mouth.” Touka grumbled back. She sat next to Hide on the couch. Who would have thought they would become such close friends? Certainly not Hide or Touka. 

“What is your so important gossip?” She said using air quotes. 

“Well you know how I am working with all those super high ranking investigators on Kaneki’s case?” Touka nodded. “Well they gave me all the information in one file, since I cannot see the information on the CCG website. All I think I may have… uh, misplaced the file? Or someone could be, uh borrowing it.” 

“So, you’re telling me you lost Kaneki’s top secret file. And you think an investigator took it?” Touka said slightly annoyed. Hide winced at Touka’s words. She had hit the nail right on the head.

Touka sighed. How did Hide even get a job at the CCG? Didn’t have screening sessions or something to keep idiots out of the line of duty?

“You know I have suspicions that it was Amon Koutarou, he keeps asking me questions on ‘the Eyepatch ghoul’ and how my investigation is going. I am pretty sure he isn’t supposed to know about how I am working in a Special Class investigation."

“Eyepatch? I though everyone called him ‘Centipede’ now.” The female ghoul rolled her eyes. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you but apparently Amon and Kaneki fought before. And Amon was the one to capture Kaneki and put him in Cochlea. I think the first time they fought Kaneki had said something that peaked the investigator’s interest. He also let the man go after fighting him. That must be a first in CCG history.” 

“Wait, was he, like, really tall? With dark hair?”

“I am surprised you know him too, he must be pretty popular. I bet Amon makes rounds in the 20th ward.” Hide said while wiggling his eyebrows.

“Oh, shove off. What makes you think I like humans, idiot?” Touka punched Hide lightly.

“I know you love me. But lets not go into your secret affections, we have to stay on topic! I have a plan. BUT! I need you to agree to it.”

“Okay…” 

“You know an investigator named Marude taught me how to get into houses and buildings if they are locked. You know, like, to break into a ghoul’s house or something. What he didn’t know was that one day I would use this knowledge against him, and break into-“

Touka sighed, “I know what you are going to say, and before you say I just want you to know that we are all going to be killed due to your ignorance. You can continue.”

“Into the CCG building with a ghoul! Come on Touka-chan, it will be fun! CCG actually closes on Sunday nights at two o’clock in the morning. And all we have to do is peek at three different investigator’s cubicles and see if they have the file. It will be a piece of cake!”

“That is literally the dumbest plan I have ever heard. Why can’t you do this by yourself? What about the RC scanners? And what about janitors? Someone has to clean up that bird nest!”

“I know personally that the sensors are off after they close. Janitors only work in the early hours of the morning on Mondays through Fridays. And finally I need a partner in crime; you know we are all in this together! Plus we won’t get caught, guaranteed!” 

__

 

The ghoul’s grey eyes were void of any emotion. Arima couldn’t get any reaction out of it. Surely he had inflicted some pain onto the hybrid. He wanted to test the one-eye, to see its ability in combat among other things. That would have to wait, though. 

“I am Special Class Arima, you will follow my every order. I own you Kaneki Ken. I expect to cooperate with the warden of Cochlea. Give me some reason to keep you alive.”

As Special Class said that he dug his fingernails down into the ghoul’s sclera and conjunctivas. The blood flooded faster down its face mixing with tears. ‘Disgusting.’ Thought Arima. 

And with that note, Arima dropped the ghoul, letting it fall to the floor. Special Class let the cell and headed to the Warden’s office. He had much to discus with the man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have way too many plans for the future of the story, but it is hard to think of any thing in between. If you have any suggestions feel free to comment! If you have any critiques for the story please let me know! Thank you for reading!


	6. Surreptitious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hideyoshi had proven himself to be a good ally to the CCG many times. The kid had saved Amon many times during investigations without actually being there. Even though Hideyoshi does not do field work and started out as a part-time worker, he has already received the title as a Rank 3 investigator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for 200+ kudos! I really appreciate it! This chapter came out pretty quickly, and I hope you all enjoy it~  
> (This chapter follows chapter 5!)

The fact that Amon had been holding onto the file this long was problematic. He had planned to put it securely back in place the next day before Hideyoshi comes into the building. It has been almost a week now, and Hideyoshi was starting to suspect the man of taking the file.

Since that “interrogation” in the conference room, Amon had tried to be even more careful around Hideyoshi but that boy is not as empty-headed as Amon first thought. Apparently he was the one to tip off the CCG about Aogiri, who knows how he even found about their hideout. Some investigators have started rumors that the blonde works for the organization and is a double agent. Amon was smarter than that to believe those insane stories.

Hideyoshi had proven himself to be a good ally to the CCG many times. The kid had saved Amon many times during investigations without actually being there. Even though Hideyoshi does not do field work and started out as a part-time worker, he has already received the title as a Rank 3 investigator.

The kid was going to find out the truth sooner or later; which will be bad news for Amon. He needs to place the file back in its original place before the end of the week. Amon no longer has any use for the paperwork anymore. The man had read through the thing about a dozen times searching for things he might have missed when reading it the first eleven times. Even though he had every piece of information spilled out in front of him, it was not enough. There were so many missing puzzle pieces. But, he did not have enough time to mull over the thick file again he had to return it.

__

 

It was a Saturday; Amon had 24 hours to return the file. But first he needed the perfect opening first. It is a good thing Amon’s cubicle is directly across Hideyoshi’s, which meant Amon causally wait for Hideyoshi to leave. Recently during the last three weeks Hideyoshi leaves the office around 1 o’clock on Saturdays. Once Amon had asked where he was going, and all the kid said back was, “To see an old friend, it's not that important really.”

Amon’s computer clock said it was already 2:37 pm. That meant the investigator has been waiting for almost three hours for the blond to leave. It was frustrating; the kid never seemed to leave his cubicle. Amon had to leave at 5 o’clock and go out to eat with his squad partners, Akira and Seido.

The man’s mind wandered while trying to do his investigation work. Would you call this a stakeout? Typical stakeouts, like the ones in movies, where at night in alleyways or in nightclubs. The protagonist of the film would go undercover and tail the suspect to unusual places. But all Amon was doing was looking out of the corner of his eye to see any movement from the cubicle across from him. Maybe Amon should tail him; rumor has it that Hideyoshi works with Aogiri. He could find some Earth shattering evidence that the blond was working with Kanou.

Amon quickly pushed the idea out of his head. It would be beyond perverted and creepy to do such a thing in the first place. He didn’t want information that badly to turn into a stalker. Plus Hideyoshi would surely notice and that would be the end of Amon’s career.

Just as Amon thought about these things, Hideyoshi had packed up and left the CCG office. Amon looked around the building, nobody insight. I mean who even wants to work on a Saturday? He quickly gathered up what seemed to be all the papers and placed them back into the folder. Amon walked over to Hide’s file cabinet and put the file securely back in place.

After doing such action, he turned and looked at Hideyoshi’s desk. He saw the picture he had knocked over the first time while taking the information. But this time he did not just glance at it without a second thought. When he looked at the picture more closely he could see it had a small fracture over the other boy’s face, from when the picture was knocked over. The boy had black hair and clear grey eyes. Where has he seen this boy before? Then it he remembered, and it felt like getting hit by a truck. Amon knew Hideyoshi’s friend was missing but this? Amon’s body was frozen and stiff and his chest felt as if someone was sitting on it. A migraine feel over him, and Amon could hear his heart pounding. It felt as if it would burst out of his chest.

He knows whom Hideyoshi is going to see. And it hurts to know.

‘That should be the end of the interrogations.’ Thought Amon as he panicky packed up his briefcase. But what Amon had not thought about was if he had picked up every single paper and given them all back to Hideyoshi. And due to Amon’s carelessness he had forgotten a single paper that sat in his desk drawer.

__

 

Hide was silently thanking Marude for letting him leave early on Saturdays and have Sundays off as he made his way over to Cochlea, it was the third time he has visited Kaneki in his cell now. This time he had something for his best friend in his book bag.

After being escorted to cell number 240 by one of the guards, as Hide entered the cell he noticed that something was different. For the first time, Kaneki was sitting on the edge of the bed. You might be saying, ‘And why does that matter?’ but every time Hide had visited Kaneki had not moved from the same spot. And this was a start.

Maybe this visit will be different for once. The second time he has been in Cochlea to see Kaneki, it turned out to be just like the first time he came. Except Kaneki didn’t speak at all.

“Hey Kaneki,” Hide said with a small wave.

Kaneki’s head turned toward Hide when he entered the small room. He seemed to be more lucid, and his kakugan was not manifested. Had something happened?

“Hi Hide,” Replied Kaneki. It became impossible for Hide to stop smiling; he was just so happy and relieved. If Kaneki did not speak at all today, CCG would then have a reason to dispose of his friend.

Hide practically flew across the room to give Kaneki a hug.

“You feeling better? You are actually speaking this time.” Hide said just before burying his face in Kaneki’s white locks of hair.

Kaneki let out a soft laugh, and to Hide it was music to his ears. It felt like forever since he had heard Kaneki laugh. “I’m sorry, Hide.”

“Don’t be. I am just very happy I can be with my best friend in the whole world right now.” Hide was leaning up against Kaneki on the bed.

“Oh ‘Neki, before I forget,” Hide reached into his book bag and pulled out three thick books, at least 600 pages each. “Here I know you must get really bored in here. Oh! Before I forget, I know how much you love Takatsuki Sen, so I got this one signed just for you!”

Kaneki took the books then locked eyes with Hide. When their eyes met Hide could see tears welling up in his friend’s eyes and slowly falling down his face. At that moment it was perfectly silent; you could hear a pin drop.

“I am sorry, I-I just,” The hybrid took a deep breath before continuing, “I am a terrible friend.”

“No Kaneki. You are not a-”

“Just admit it Hide. You do so much for me; you came here three weeks in a row just to spend time with me, you jeopardize your career trying to help me, and so much more. All I did was hide and be a coward. I-I thought I would protect you, but it, it was all for nothing. And now you are dealing with a ton of shit that I caused.”

Tears fell faster and heavier the more the ghoul rambled on. It was hard to see him like this.

“Kaneki, you are not a terrible friend. I know your logic I understand what you were trying to do. Plus you cannot ruin a career I barely had.” Hide felt a blush burn his cheeks. “I only really joined this hellhole to keep an eye out for you.”

“You know Hide, I really missed you.” Kaneki smiled though his tears.

“What are you, a little bunny?” Hide said with a small snort. “I am with you through thick and thin. You are going to have to try harder than that to ditch me!”

Hide and Kaneki both broke out into fits of giggles.

__

 

“I still cannot believe you convinced me into doing this.” Touka said while putting on the black ski mask. The female ghoul was wearing all black, and it felt like she was about to rob a bank. They were both standing in front of the CCG building.

“Hey, you could have said no, but it's too late now.” Hide paused to put on his mask then continued, “Plus I needed an extra person for this top-secret operation!”

“You owe me, big time. I’m thinking that you should pay for all of my coffee purchases for rest of the year, and you better let me see this file once this is over, too.”

Hide sighed. It is against CCG policy to let an unauthorized investigator see any file they do not have access to. But, then again he was pretty sure sneaking into the CCG building with a ghoul is against the policy, too.

“I cannot believe I am infiltrating the Dove’s nest.” Touka smirked; she could finally see the inside of this hellhole and live.

“Okay, so all I need you to do one small, tiny, miniscule thing for us to get inside the building. And you cannot say no.”

“Fine what is it.” She didn’t like where this was going already.

“I just need to stand on your back to let me reach the window I left open.”

After a few minutes of arguing Touka was boosting Hide up onto her shoulders. The window was only on the first floor, but it was really high up. Probably to stop people from doing things like this. Once the window was pushed open, Hide attempted to jump through it.

“That isn’t going to work dumbass.” Touka rolled her eyes, why did she even agree to this? And Hide’s weight was starting to take a toll on her. She could feel her knees shaking from holding Hide this long.

“Yes, it is! I took a class on this AND watched quite a few YouTube videos about it. I think I know what I am doing Touka-chan.”

“Just hurry up!” Touka hissed at Hide. “I cannot hold you for much longer, Hide.” Her whole body started to shake from the pressure.

After a few more failed attempts to leap through the window, and a couple of complaints; Hide finally climbed through the window. Then proceeded to fall onto his face on his way down. After a few minutes of Hide bumping and falling into things in the darkness he reached the light switch and opened the main doors. They were in!

“What now genius?”

“We just need to pass the Rc scanners and go up four flights of stairs. Everyone on the Koutarou Squad works on the second floor.”

“Are you sure that, uh, the Scanners are not on? I have heard stories that they are left on 24/7.”

“Touka, please. I work here, those are just rumors you have heard that were made by the CCG to keep ghouls out.” Hide smirked at Touka.

The Rc Scanner Gate stood tall in front of Touka, it casted a large shadow over the female ghoul. The little monitor positioned on top of the Scan Gate seemed to be inactive. All of the little buttons were dim and not lite. But the Doves are known to be brutal and merciless, but they also have no common sense (I mean why would you wear white while killing?). Maybe they spend government money on buttons and screens that don’t light up so they can trick the enemy. Who knows what they would do just to kill a ghoul.

Hide past through the scanner easily without a second thought. ‘Why did they have to only have one entrance?’ Touka thought to herself. Then after taking a deep breath, she slowly inched into the Scanner. As she came out of the Gate she braced herself for the damn machine to start flashing and for police to fly in through the windows. But she was greeted with silence on the other side.

“See there was nothing to be worried about! Was it so hard to trust me? Wait don’t answer that.” Hide said with a stupid shit-eating grin plastered onto his face. The ghoul sighed, why did she agree to this again?

__

 

Hide silently cursed the CCG, if only the elevator wasn’t shut off. He thought as they walked up too many steps. Hide could feel his legs turn to jelly. He had almost tripped on the staircase and fall onto Touka about six times already. And they were only halfway there. Maybe he could use his charm to convince Touka to carry him up the steps, if she had a rinkaku kagune. But before Hide can even start pleading the female ghoul speaks.

“Hey, did you see Kaneki on Saturday?” Her voice echoed off the walls of the stairwell.

“Yeah, I did. I finally got to tell him about this cool new American cartoon that was dubbed into Japanese. It is called Steven Universe. I think Kaneki is more of a Lapis Lazuli, and I am more similar to Steven, the main protagonist. Touka I feel like you are most like-”

“Hide I don’t care about that. I want to know how he is doing and stuff like that.” She sneered.

“Oh, well he was speaking and was lucid. They stopped injecting Rc Suppressants due to Special Class Arima’s orders. I really think Arima wants to create something bigger than the CCG and Kaneki. I have heard stories about what Arima wants to do and I-I do not like what they're saying.” Hide’s voice hitched slightly. Hide wishes he didn’t say the last bit; he didn’t want to dive into the rumors. The investigator knew both of his friends would not like the plot of any of the stories.

So it was a good thing that Touka stayed silent and didn’t ask any more questions during the rest of the way up.

__

 

“Okay so here is my cubicle,” Hide gestured towards a desk with tons of papers scattered randomly on it.

“This is suspect number one, Amon Koutarou's desk.” The cubicle was directly across from Hide’s and was clearly tidier than his, too.

“Suspect number two is Akira Mado.” Touka froze and her shoulders stiffened. She recognized the surname Mado. As she looked at the desk she could see a picture of the man she had murdered and a young child.

“And suspect number three is Juuzou Suzuya. I doubt it would really be Juuzou, but he is a bit of a loose cannon sometimes. Who knows what he might do.” Juuzou’s desk was a complete mess. Touka suggested they look there last.

“Hide are you 100% sure you actually don’t have the file, because I swear-“

“Relax Touka-chan, I checked before I left the office. If it will calm your little ghoul nerves.” Hide opened his file cabinet without having to input his code (he really needs to lock this thing) and looked at every paper placed inside of the damn thing.

“See it isn’t in here,” Hide said while shuffling through all of his files. “Wait, oh.”

“What does ’Oh’ mean Hide?”

“It seemed I, uh, have the file?” Hide said sheepishly.

Everything was completely silent for a second.

“So you wasted my time to drag me into this hellhole, just to tell me that this shitty file was with you the entire time!” Touka’s screams bounced off the walls and echoed loudly throughout the building. Good thing nobody is here.

Hide quickly made sure this was the original file and flipped through the entire mound of papers. “Wait look Touka-chan, it is missing page 14. See it jumps from paper 13 to paper 15. Pretty impressive that I noticed that isn’t it.”

“I guess.” Touka said smalley.

“Let's start looking!” After Hide spoke he continued to make a victory pose that resembled something out of an anime.

They both began to search Amon’s desk. Amon didn’t keep a file cabinet, so he must keep everything in his desk or on his computer. Touka was busy messing around on the desktop computer so Hide chose to search through his junk. To Hide’s dismay Amon’s desk was locked, it needed a key to be opened.

“It’s locked.” Hide said flatly.

“Bust it open then dumbass. You said that you just happened to take a class on this sorta stuff, so use that knowledge.” Touka rolled her eyes.

“I can’t just break the lock. Amon comes into the office every day, I won’t be able to replace his desk by tomorrow.”

“Then don’t replace it, I mean if he has the paper in there your actions are justified.”

“But what if he is innocent? Then I just broke the man’s private property! He is pretty beefy and he might pound me if he found out if I snuck around his things!”

“Just find the key then, gosh.” Touka huffed.

‘That is a pretty good idea actually.’ Thought Hide. So he began to shuffle through boxes Amon had placed along the sides of the desk. Each box contained different things; one had bills and printed emails, another had pictures of many different things, and the last one had small items and paperwork. Hide took a guess that the key would be in the last box and sorted through that one first. And he was right!

“Guess what Touka-chan? I have the key!”

“Good job Investigator Hideyoshi. Now I can stop looking through all of this idiot’s folders.”

Once Hide got the desk drawer open both of them looked in awe at the random collection of papers that were kept inside of it. It seemed there were at least fifty different stray papers from cases. One was from the Bin Brothers case, another for the ghoul Naki, and there were a few for the Rabbit investigation.

“Look it’s you Touka-chan!” Hide said pointing at a blurry picture of Touka in a pink wig and a white bunny mask.

“Don’t get distracted, the sun is going to rise soon. Oh and before I forget one of Kaneki’s friends from his little gang wants to speak to you on Tuesday.”

“Should I be worried?” Hide said while reading a page about the ghoul ‘Jason’.

“Sorta. I will be there just in case something happens though. I can take the guy.”

Hide continued to shuffle through what seemed like hundreds of papers, until Touka found the fourteenth page to the Centipede investigation.

“Hey Hide, come look at this. I think I found it.” Touka said with her eyes glued to the paper.

“Oh that is it Touka, good job!”

“Why does it say stuff about Anteiku on this page? I thought they didn’t know about us! It says they have sent investigators under cover, too! Hide did you know about this?” Touka was fuming, how did they even find out about the coffee shop anyways?

“I had no idea! I didn’t get to look at the file because someone took it from me! They never brought it up at any of the meetings!” Hide said trying to defend himself.

“Do you think they are planning something? Anteiku does house dangerous ghouls, but we would- we haven’t-”

“Touka relax. If they do try to pull something I will alert you, but if I were you I would tell the others. This could get pretty dirty.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like what I did there mentioning Steven Universe? Kaneki is just like Lapis Lazuli! I don't know who Touka really is though, but oh well. Thanks for reading!


	7. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick update for all of you who still read this. Also no this isn’t an April fools joke.

Hey guys, it’s kinda been a long time since I’ve updating this fic. Like it’s been almost two years. When I stopped writing alot of family shit happened and I started to fall out of the tokyo ghoul fandom. But recently, I have been having more free time and I feel like I owe it to you guys to try to write more for this story. Or at least find someone to write it. I dont wanna make promises that I can’t fullfill but I will make a serious effort to write another chapter. 

This is kinda of a ramble but I want to comment on Tokyo Ghoul itself. I have not kept up with the manga AT ALL. I go through a lot of phases where I become obsessed with different fandoms. So it was expected for me to forgot to check the new chapters. So please do not expect me to know what happens in :Re after chapter 70. 

On another note, my writing has greatly improved. I mean it has been literally two years, but that also means the direction my story was originally going in is most likely going to change slightly. I still have my original notes on my computer so I do have a basic outline. Originally I have this super long outline of where I wanted the story to go, but that actually caused a lot of problems for myself. I kept thinking too far ahead instead of worrying about the chapter I was writing. I’m still surprised anyone actually took time to read my story, it’s definitely not the best. And I appreciate you guys for dealing with the spelling errors. Hopefully you will be hearing more from me soon!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still can’t believe how many hits and kudos this got. I’m so honored. I really appreciate you guys so much!


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